The Good, the Bad and the Unfriendly

Applejack yawned from on top Winona as the horse slowly walked through the hills of the Equestrian wilderness. It was the afternoon but Applejack had only just woken up due to riding through the night. After a tangle with some outlaws who tried to gut her while she was asleep on the side of the road she decided to switch how she did things for now, sleeping most of the day away and being awake for most of the night. It had worked decently enough but her body was still getting used to it.

Right now Winona’s leisurely gait was because Applejack just didn’t even know where they were and she didn’t want to push the horse. She was pretty sure they were somewhere southeast of Canterlot but still north of Fillydelphia and well away from the coast. But her sense of direction had failed her before and regardless of where exactly she was she knew it was a place where there was no big town or city around for miles. At best she might find a little settlement or some other travelers but she was expecting to just be alone with Winona for a good long while. Course she was just as likely to run into a tribe of Buffalo Men or some more outlaws too.

Thanks to the good fortune of outfighting those cutthroats from before though she at least had a full saddlebag of both whiskey and bits. So she was doing alright in that regard for once. It wasn’t exactly the norm for her to not be hurting for bits and booze while traveling across the country. Her gun was still at her hip and well taken care of too. She had needed to use it more than she would’ve liked but that was just the reality of the world out here.

Applejack cracked her neck and reached into the saddlebag at Winona’s sighed. The horse whinnied in disapproval but Applejack ignored her as she pulled out a bottle of brown whiskey. Pulling the cork out she gave it a sniff—good scent to it.

Winona whinnied again and Applejack frowned. “You still giving me lip whenever I decided to have a drink? Nothing wrong with having something to give me a little kick first thing in the morning, calm down, girl.”

The powerful snort from the horse said she disagreed.

“Yeah, yeah, well I need a drink right now and I’m gonna have one,” Applejack brought the bottle to her chapped lips and tilted it back, enjoying the burning rush of the liquid as it poured down her throat. Nothing was really quite the same as good whiskey. It hit her empty stomach almost immediately and settled there, creating a warmth in her belly. She was far too heavy of a drinker to get drunk just from a few sips like this but with her stomach empty she would definitely feel a little bit of its effects if she kept drinking from the bottle.

In truth, Applejack knew Winona was right. If not about not drinking this stuff in general then at least about how she shouldn’t be knocking back so much right now. There wasn’t any water left in that saddlebag of hers. No food either. And all the bits she surprisingly did have wouldn’t do her any good with nowhere to spend them. So the wanton drinking was going to end up being a pretty harmful thing if she didn’t at least find a stream or came across anything else soon.

She really was out in the boonies though. The dry grass and rocky ground and hills all around her were the opposite of inviting. She hoped the horseshoes on the bottom of Winona’s hooves didn’t give out or anything. Winona had put in a lot of work for her and it wouldn’t do to have her hooves get cracked or chipped out here, the horse was Applejack’s lifeline just as much as the gun she held was.

Speaking of that, she had plenty of bullets too.

After putting her drink away (with considerably less in the bottle), Applejack looked up at the sky. Cloudless. Blue. A burning hot sun bearing down on her. She was already sweating and the hat wasn’t doing enough to help. It wasn’t even the truly hot season yet, once it was is was things would get really bad for her. Riding a horse all day without any cover in the great plains or even worse—the desert—was a recipe for heat stroke and dehydration. Today was like a preview of that since she already didn’t have any water on her. It was one more reason for her to switch most of her active time to night, but even then she’d have to find someplace with shade or something to sleep at. Despite all the time she had spent alone out in the wilderness, making her own way, it didn’t really get any easier. It was always either too hot or too cold and she hardly ever had enough food or water.

That was just her lot in life. Applejack lifted an arm and rubbed her sleeve across her brow to get rid of some of the sweat. She didn’t need any of that getting in her big, green eyes.

“If I had a harmonica or something, that’d be mighty sweet,” Applejack mused out loud. It would at least give her something to pass the time with while she rode out here. A sweet music for her and Winona’s ears could do a lot of good. Maybe the next time she was in town she could look to see if she could fine one somewhere.

She couldn’t whistle worth a darn, otherwise she would have.

Winona crested another small hill and they started heading down into a small valley between it and the next one. To the east was a wide and flat plains that seemed to stretch on forever. It was so dry and dead out there that most of the ground was just empty dirt with some sagebrush sticking out. To the west was more of the same except she saw the start of some rocky cliffs and canyons. Might have been a small river running through those somewhere but she was just as likely to get lost or stuck in them too. With the alcohol forming a warm pit in her empty stomach, Applejack just decided to keep them going up and down these hills. It was at a leisurely pace with Winona taking almost a half hour before she made it up to the top of the next hill.

At the top of this one, Applejack pulled on Winona’s reins for a moment to make the horse stop. She wanted to use the vantage point up here to see is she could see anything. Unsurprisingly she didn’t see anything useful to herself like a water source, or a fruiting tree, or the signs of a town, but she did see something. A road was at the base of this hill, heading both east and west. Applejack looked west to see if she could see where it started but it just disappeared into the canyons over there and to the east it curved around the hills and disappeared too without her being able to see anything on it. She reached up a hand and scratched under her head. Did she wanna try going down the road in one direction?

She ended up making a compromise and went up the next hill while also traveling a little east so once she made it to the top she could still see further down the road and check if there was anything. The damnable heat of the day and her lack of any real food or water lately was wearing her out. She hoped there was something she would see.

Applejack ended up hearing something before she saw anything.

Gunfire.

Coming from east down the road, past the curve of the hill where she couldn’t see. Applejack ground her teeth together as she heard a couple more shots. It sure wasn’t hunting rifles. Winona huffed and shuffled about uncomfortably while Applejack tried to steady her.

“Easy girl, easy there. Whoever’s shooting aint shooting for us,” Applejack patted her head.

And she planned on keeping it that way. Applejack didn’t exactly know what was going on but she was going to stay out of it. Being an accidental hero had made things a pain in the ass for her. She felt bad for whoever was on the receiving end of those bullets but she knew well enough by now that her getting involved wouldn’t end well for anybody. She was tired of being shot at and chased down, all she wanted was to ride along with Winona and live in peace. Being a wandering guardian angel who swooped in and saved other travelers from outlaws wasn’t the simple kind of life she wanted. All the stories and tales about her were from accidents or random chance—she just wasn’t that woman.

It was still a pain though cause she might have been able to meet up with whoever was under attack right now and buy some food and water off them.

But she wasn’t getting involved. This had nothing to do with her. She was tired of being the so called “Hero of Manehatten”, “Slayer of the McColts”, “Quickdraw Applejack”. She wasn’t even especially quick on the draw to begin with, she was just a damn good shot. Either way it was all the same. Something she didn’t want and something untrue that just brought her more problems.

So here she was, guiding Winona to go back up the hill and just avoid the direction she heard the gunshots coming from.

But she was frozen by an all new sound.

The scream of a young girl.

It was a sound that still filled Applejack’s nightmares, a scream in terror from—Applejack shook her head to clear it. Winona had stopped too and almost seemed to be looking back at her, questioning her. Applejack sat on the back of her horse as that terrified noise echoed in her skull and she tightly gripped the reins until her knuckled turned white and her nails dug into her palms. Taking in a deep breath through her nose, Applejack leaned back and grit her teeth.

“Shit.”

Applejack whipped the reins and pulled Winona around to the east, making her gallop towards the gunshots and screams through the hills.

Three men on horseback stood in front of an empty wagon and a broken family. A woman, a wife and mother, lied dead on the ground. A man, a husband and father, lied clutching a bullet wound in his stomach while blood flowed freely from it. And a girl, a daughter, cradled his head in her lap as she cried rivers of tears. Besides the family of three there was a horse still hitched up to the wagon that was shaking about and neighing in fear, while the horse next to it on the other side of the hitch was also shot dead.

Everything that was inside the wagon had been taken and thrown out, from boxes of clothes, to old family trinkets, and of course food and water. Nothing valuable had been found yet, much to the displeasure of the three bandits.

“Fucking hell,” the center one complained. “Some clothes, no money? What a fucking waste of time. What the hell were you even traveling for, huh?” He asked down at the dying man.

“New… new life...” the man weakly responded.

The three bandits laughed while the daughter cried harder and tried to ignore them, tried to imagine this was all just a bad dream. Why was this happening to them? What had they done to deserve this?

“New life, huh?” The same one bit out between laughs. “Well shit, you’re a really unlucky family then. Not sure who’s more unlucky though—you or your daughter.”

The girl looked up at them, her eyes wide.

“What are you so surprised about? With no gold or anything you’re the only thing we’ve found worth anything,” the bandit grinned.

The girl shook her head in pure terror. Her eyes were red, her pink dress was dirty with blood and tears, the white and light purple locks of her hair were strewn about haphazardly across her face. It was a wonder she hadn’t fainted. “P-Please...”

“I’m sure we can find a good buyer for you,” the bandit grinned.

Her father tried to raise his hand but it collapsed back down to the dirt. “Don’t… touch her...”

“Oh don’t worry, old man. We aint gonna touch her. We’re just gonna take her with us.”

The three bandits laughed again while the father and daughter looked on in despair. She wanted to run but she couldn’t leave her dad behind, and she knew she wouldn’t get anywhere. Her hands were shaking as she held onto her dad’s head. And he more than anything wished he could just do something to save her. Wished he had something to offer them instead, or had a gun in his hand that he could heroically raise to blow them all away before he died.

But there was nothing.

The center bandit whistled at his friend on the right. “You get off your horse and get some rope, tie the girls hands up and then throw her on behind you.”

“I don’t want-” the girl tried to say but choked on a sob in the middle of her sentence. Her body was frozen, her father’s head still on her lap as the bandit hopped off his horse and walked towards her. She didn’t want to go and leave him behind while he was still breathing, she wanted to stay with him. But she couldn’t speak.

The shadow of the bandit loomed over her as he reached down to pull her away.

A far off crack of thunder rang out and a bullet shot through the bandit’s temple. He spun around once with blood splattering across the ground before he fell dead. The bandits’ horses all reared up in sudden fright before the two riders still on them calmed them down.

“What the fuck?!” The lead bandit yelled, looking in the direction of the shot.

A galloping horse was coming down from the hill, at a distance where they hadn’t been able to hear it well. It was a distance where such a perfect shot with a simple six-shooter should’ve been damn near impossible. Especially while riding on horseback bouncing up and down. But somehow the rider had pulled it off.

Both of the bandits reached to their hips to pull out their guns but neither one got the chance to fire.

Two more expert shots came from the young woman riding towards them. Both right in their chest’s, killing them before they hit the ground after falling from their horses. The trio of horses neighed and ran away together, heading off into the wilderness to the east as they abandoned their fallen riders.

Applejack kept Winona galloping hard towards the wagon and the site of the attack. She had to see what had happened and if there was anything she could do.

Pulling on the reins right as she got to the father and daughter she brought Winona to a skidding stop before them. The girl looked up at her with an open mouth of surprise while her pale father could just barely keep his eyes open. Applejack swung her left leg over and jumped off Winona, cautiously walking up to the father’s side and looking him over. When she saw where exactly she was wounded she bit her lip. There was no helping that. She glanced over at the young girl, the poor thing looked terrible and scared but otherwise unharmed.

“I… I heard the gunshots and your scream and I came… as quickly as I could,” the unfortunate lie rolled off her tongue with ease, and it made her wince inside.

The man weakly managed a small smile. “T-Thank you...”

“I-I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner,” Applejack reached up and took off her hat, holding it in front of her heart. She looked over at the body of the woman lying on the ground and grimaced. “Your wife?”

“Yes...”

Applejack looked back at the two of them, unsure what to really say. “Who are you? What were you doing out here?”

“F-Filthy Rich, p-pleasure to meet you, Miss?-”

“Applejack. And uh, pleased to meet you as well, Mr. Rich.”

A fresh round of sobbing broke out from the girl as she cradled her father’s head. “D-Daddy...”

The girl had to have known that that wound in her father’s stomach was fatal. How could she not know? Applejack gulped. “Is uh, is there anything I can do for you?”

Filthy Rich slightly shook his head, his eyes staring off into nothing as his breathing got softer. “Not for me, for Diamond.”

“Diamond?” Applejack glanced at the girl. “That your name, sugarcube?” She asked, trying to be as gentle as possible.

A sobbing nod came from her. “Diamond Tiara.”

“P-Please...” Filthy Rich said. “You’ve already saved her… but… can you take her somewhere safe? T-Take her somewhere...”

Applejack chewed her lip. “I-I’m not really going anywhere myself and… it’s not exactly safe to be around me either.”

“S-Saved her… didn’t you?”

Applejack sighed and looked deeply at the young girl. She reminded her of… someone else. “Yeah. Yeah I did.”

A small smile appeared on Filthy Rich’s face. “Diamond… be… be good. And… take care.”

“No! No, no, no!” Diamond Tiara shouted and bowed her head down until her forehead was touching her father’s. “It’s not fair, you’re not dying! This isn’t happening!”

Applejack sadly looked down at the both of them. This was a familiar sight to her. And despite the desperate cries of the young girl, her father didn’t even have the strength to speak left. In less than a minute his chest stopped moving and his eyelids closed halfway with one last gasp of air leaving his lungs. Diamond Tiara screamed and balled her fists, rivers of tears cascading down her face until she just rolled over onto her side and heaved. Once she ran out of strength she lied there and whimpered while Applejack watched. Applejack knew she just needed to get it all out for now. There was nothing else to do.

Digging graves without a shovel was tough. Exhausting and time consuming but Applejack wasn’t about to just leave Diamond Tiara’s parents bodies our here in the open. They deserved at least some kind of burial. Applejack was stuck using a broken floorboard she had snapped from the floor of the wagon along with her hands to make two shallow graves. Diamond Tiara was sitting at the hooves of Winona, a glassy expression on her face as she stared at the ground. Applejack kind of hoped she would just fall asleep but no such luck so far. She hadn’t spoken to the poor girl yet since her father finally took his last breath, she was giving her space.

Applejack was caked in dirt and sweat by the time she had finally carved out enough space for both of Diamond’s parents. Now came the awkward part: carrying them over and actually burying them. She didn’t think Diamond Tiara would react too well to seeing that.

Why can’t she just pass out, damn it? Applejack wondered. You been through so much, aint you exhausted?

At least Applejack was strong enough to carry the bodies on her own. The blood had dried by now too so she wasn’t going to get messy. When she went to pick up Diamond Tiara’s mother, she heard a whimper from the girl. Applejack bit her lip and ignored it, picking up the body and carrying it over to the first grave. At least the burying went a lot faster than the digging. With the dirt covering up the mother’s still form, Applejack panted and paused for a brief moment before she looked back over at Diamond Tiara.

“Hey, kid? What was your mother’s name?” Applejack asked.

Diamond Tiara’s head tilted towards her with an empty expression. “Why?”

Applejack frowned. “I was going to make a grave marker with her name on it. I only know your father’s name.”

“Spoiled Rich,” Diamond Tiara answered in monotone, blinking once and then returning to staring off into the distance.

“Thank you,” Applejack sighed and walked over to Winona, reaching into the saddlebag and taking out a small knife. Stiffly walking back over to the grave she picked up her rudimentary shovel and broke it in half over her knee. On one of the piece she carved the name “Spoiled Rich” and stuck it at the head of the grave. After that it was only a short minute before she had Filthy Rich buried too and his own marker sticking out.

Applejack stood in front of the two graves. They weren’t pretty but they served their purpose.

A sniffle came from behind her and Applejack raised a hand to her forehead, fingers rubbing her scalp. “Well… there’s no sense staying around here I suppose.” She turned around and even though she wished she could leave the girl alone in her mourning, Applejack had a few things to ask. “So uh, where were you going? Why were you out here in the first place?”

“Everything’s gone now,” Diamond Tiara despondently whispered, a single tear going down her cheek.

Applejack winced. “Maybe you should rest in the wagon. You can talk to me when you feel up for it.”

Diamond Tiara tried to get up but the moment she put her hand on the ground to push herself up the limb wavered and she just collapsed. She had no strength left in her body.

"Whoa now, easy there.” Applejack said and reached down to steady her. “Let me help you.”

Applejack picked the girl up, one arm under her knees and the other under her back. Diamond Tiara stayed limp in her hold like a sack of flour, not offering any protest. She was a scrawny thing that was all skin and bones. Applejack could tell just by carrying her that this was a girl who had never lifted a finger in her life. What in the hay was this family doing traveling through here without an escort? As Applejack walked over to the wagon to lay her down inside of it she took a look at her dress, despite it being ruined with blood and dirt and scuffed up a bit now, Applejack could tell it was a bit of a higher quality piece of clothing than your average small-town girl would wear. The material felt different on her hands. So what was the story with this family.

Despite her just wanting to stay out of things she couldn’t help but be curious. And she was involved now whether she liked it or not.

She carefully put Diamond Tiara down in the back of the wagon, resting her head on the side and awkwardly giving her a pat on the head to try and comfort her. With an uncertain frown on her face, Applejack walked around to the front of the wagon where the two horses were, one alive and one dead. She scratched her head as she looked at the situation.

“Now what am I going to do about this?” She looked into the eyes of the silver horse that was shivering in its spot, Applejack reached up to scratch its head to try and calm it down. “Easy now, girl. You’re okay now too.” Applejack looked past the horse and into the wagon. “Hey there, this horse have a name?”

Diamond Tiara didn’t move in the slightest or acknowledge her but she still responded. “Silver.”

Applejack smiled. “Pretty name for a horse.”

Diamond Tiara didn’t respond further so Applejack frowned and went back to dealing with the horses. She needed to get the dead one off its hitch and move it out of the way. Might be a little tough, as strong as she was horses were still damn heavy. Maybe she could use Winona to pull the dead one away with some rope. First she had to unhitch the corpse and get it free of the wagon, then at least maybe Applejack could get something started. The sooner it was all done the sooner they could get back on the road. Not like she had a plan for after that point but still, she didn’t want to be stuck around this place any longer than she had to be. Diamond Tiara probably felt the same way even if she wasn’t saying anything.

It took some time but she eventually got the dead horse free and with a length of rope tied around its neck and then tied to Winonw, they were able to pull it away. Applejack whistled and smiled at her horse.

“I hope you and Silver get along, you’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on.” Applejack said. She looked back into the wagon at Diamond Tiara. “You don’t mind me doing this, right? Commandeering your wagon and all that? But it didn’t look like you knew how to ride a horse of your own and with all the supplies and all...”

“I don’t care,” Diamond Tiara muttered.

“Alright then...” Applejack shook her head, knowing the girl had a right to be like this. She had to get Winona hitched up to the wagon now. Her friend whinnied in discomfort, not liking the lack of freedom compared to just riding with Applejack on her, but she let Applejack do it all the same. After that Applejack went around the site of the attack and started gathering up the strewn about boxes and supplies that the bandits had thrown around in their search for something more valuable. Clothes mostly but she was very happy to find a few skins of water and plenty of canned food. She also tossed her saddlebag she had taken off Winona into the wagon with the rest of the stuff.

When Applejack finished loading it all in she took a gander at Diamond Tiara and bit her lip. “Uhhh, hey? Pardon for bothering you but… do you want to put on something else?”

Diamond Tiara’s head rotated to look at her with dry tears on her cheeks before she blinked a few times and looked down at her clothes. Her father’s blood had long since dried and it wasn’t going to come out so easily. She probably wouldn’t want to wear the dress even if she was able to clean it anyways.

“Which box had your clothes in it?” Applejack asked her.

“I’ll get them...” Diamond Tiara tried to stand up in the wagon but her legs shook and she stumbled, falling to her knees.

“Easy now, you’re still in a bit of shock, you really oughta sleep and try and get some strength back.” Applejack said as she hopped into the wagon to help the young girl.

“Can’t… don’t want to,” Diamond Tiara said as she shook her head.

Applejack rubbed her back to try and relax her. “Just point to the box with your clothes, alright?”

Diamond Tiara lifted a shaking hand and did so, Applejack went and opened it up to see a plain white dress on top. Good enough. She handed it over to the girl for her to change and Diamond Tiara started to remove the shoulder straps on her pink dress. But before turning around to give her some privacy Applejack put a hand on her shoulder. “Do you want me to throw that dress out? I’m not sure you’ll want to see it around or wear it anymore.”

The girl paused and looked down at her ruined pink dress. “It was a gift from my mom...”

“I-I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

Diamond Tiara tore the pink dress off her, tearing the seams at the back with her thin arms until the pink garment fell down to her feet, leaving her in her white underclothes. She picked the destroyed dress up and threw it out the back of the wagon where it crumpled onto the dirt. Without waiting for Applejack to say or do anything she grabbed the white dress out of the young woman’s grasp and threw it over her head, sitting back down and folding her arms over her chest while leaning away from her.

“Just shut up and leave me alone,” Diamond Tiara ground out.

Applejack nodded, even though she couldn’t see. “Alright, I can do that.”

Since the girl clearly needed space right now, Applejack walked back through the wagon to the front where Winona and Silver were both waiting for her. “Guess we’re heading wherever this road takes us for now. Don’t exactly think this thing is made to go over hills with just two horses pulling it.”

She took her seat and held the reins that connected to both horses, lightly whipping them up to make Winona and Silver start to move. “Come on then, let’s head out.”

Every now and then, Applejack glanced back into the wagon to see if Diamond Tiara had changed what she was doing or if she had finally fallen asleep. But she continued to motionlessly lean up against the side of the wagon and just stare out the back of it at the wilderness they were passing by. She made no effort to talk or acknowledge Applejack’s existence at all. It was starting to wear on Applejack’s nerves a little bit. She knew that wasn’t fair but she hadn’t planned on this happening to her today. Diamond Tiara had every right to be angry and upset, Applejack just had to keep telling herself that. It didn’t make this wagon any more welcoming though. Despite herself, Applejack had somehow managed to get herself playing the hero again and now she was saddled with a whole new problem.

And to be honest she was worried she was just going to drag this girl into more danger. Hopefully she had some family somewhere else in Equestria that Applejack could drop her off with. If her parents were her only family… Applejack really didn’t want to think the poor girl was all alone in the world now. It just wasn’t fair.

Though she knew already that life wasn’t fair.

Winona and Silver at least were doing alright. Applejack wasn’t sure how Winona would handle having to trot alongside another horse like this but her trusty friend hadn’t given her any problems yet. Silver was still shaken up and had been going slower than Applejack wanted but she wasn’t going to force the horse to go faster. Applejack knew they were sensitive creatures and she really wanted to get off on the right foot with her new friend. Or perhaps she should say the right “hoof”.

One of the big positives for her right now though was that with the direction they were going, the time of the day, and the cover of the wagon, the sun wasn’t beating down directly on her anymore. She had some shade to work with and after earlier today that was pretty darn nice. It made things a little easier for her, the ride was less bumpy, and she could just relax and try to sort her frazzled brain out. What a damn day it had been.

Applejack heard a creaking from the wagon behind her and glanced over her shoulder in surprise just in time to see Diamond Tiara crawl from out of it and sit on the bench beside her. She was still moving like a limp doll, not folding her hands in her lap or anything, just lying against the back of the bench and looking half a corpse. Her eyes were dull and the rest of her face was like stone.

“You uh…” Applejack started before thinking over her words. “You feeling better?”

She winced, that was a stupid thing to ask.

“I got bored sitting there. And I can’t sleep.”

Applejack rubbed the back of her neck. “Well uh, it’s definitely cozier up here, and you can see what’s coming at least.”

Diamond Tiara just sat there and stared at the backs of Winona and Silver. Seems not much was going to change. Not unless Applejack tried to help her out. She glanced behind her at her saddlebag sitting right in the front of the wagon.

“Hey, Diamond—is it okay if I call you Diamond?” Applejack raised an eyebrow at the young girl.

She limply shrugged.

“Okay. Well, Diamond, can you grab my saddlebag that’s back there?” Applejack pitched a thumb back into the wagon and tried to shoot a friendly smile to the girl at the same time.

Diamond Tiara turned her head to look up at her for a second before blinking and looking back at the saddlebag. She seemed to be contemplating whether to just ignore Applejack or not but she eventually did reach back in and pulled out the bag onto the bench.

“Thank you,” Applejack said and with one hand still on the reins she opened up the bag and began reaching around inside it for something.

Diamond Tiara watched the cowgirl as she eventually pulled out a half-empty bottle of a certain brown liquid.

“There we go,” Applejack said and handed the bottle over to Diamond. “Here, drink. It’ll make you feel better, maybe, and it’ll help you sleep.”

The girl grabbed the bottle with an uncertain frown on her face. “Daddy said I shouldn’t drink this kind of thing even when I got older. Mother said the same but she was always drinking wine anyways.”

“Well they weren’t wrong, it’s not exactly something you should get in the habit of drinking but it has its purposes,” Applejack said.

“Mm,” Diamond Tiara grunted and reached a shaking hand up to pull out the cork. She struggled with it for a moment but finally managed to pull it out, afterwards being assaulted by the smell of the whiskey. She crinkled her nose at it and held the bottle away from her face. “It smells awful.”

Applejack fought the urge to roll her eyes and instead grinned at the girl. “That’s how it’s supposed to smell. Guess for first timers it’s probably not gonna be too good though. Careful with how you drink it by the way, you don’t want to cough it back up or puke or anything.”

Diamond Tiara stared down at the bottle in her grip before bringing it up her lips and tilting it back, totally ignoring Applejack and just guzzling down the entire thing. Or at least trying to. She got a mouthful or two in first before the flavor, smell, and burning sensation hit her all at once. It made her retch and she spat out most of the whiskey onto the bottom of the bench right between her legs. Diamond Tiara spent a good while coughing before she had the will to bring the neck of the bottle back to her lips and try to drink more. This time she squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to down the whole thing, now used to the horrid feeling of it. Applejack watched with quite a bit of surprise as the last little droplet of whiskey left the bottle and Diamond Tiara dropped it, letting it clatter onto the bench. She coughed one more time and leaned against the bench, letting out a close-lipped groan.

“I warned you for a reason you know? You’re going to be feeling it really fast after drinking all that at once.” Applejack told her.

“Shut up, I don’t care,” Diamond Tiara responded and turned away from the blonde.

Applejack sighed. “Don’t blame me then.”

“You’re the one who gave it to me...” Diamond bit back.

At that, Applejack grinned again. “Well at least you’re talking a bit more now. Just sit back, you’ll start feeling all warm inside soon.”

“Mm...” Diamond Tiara muttered.

“You know if you just want to sit there for now that’s okay but I was hoping I could ask you some questions too. I’m really in the dark about a few things and I’m kind of worried. For you, I mean.” Applejack said.

Diamond Tiara grumbled as the effects of the whiskey started to run through her unaccustomed body immediately. She blinked a few times and moved her head around as it started to feel heavy and her thoughts murky. “What?”

“Well… what were you doing out here? Your f-father wasn’t able to answer. I want to know if those three scumbags who attacked your family were random bandits or if they had followed you from somewhere.”

Diamond Tiara sniffled a little and some fresh tears fell from her eyes. “They didn’t know us. Nobody was chasing us or anything, they just found us out here.”

Applejack nodded, keeping an even expression on her face. “Where’d you come from? And where were you going?”

“Canterlot. We used to live in Canterlot and daddy had a business there but...” Diamond Tiara closed her eyes and shook her head. “We were supposed to be making a new life out here… away from it all.”

“Something bad happened back in Canterlot, didn’t it?”

Diamond Tiara nodded a few times. “There was a business deal. Daddy said he was making one with the Flim Flam brothers but something happened, they swindled him out of his money somehow. I couldn’t really understand. But we lost everything. The business, the house, all our money, we had to give it all up. The wagon and all we had in it were the only things left. So daddy said we would start a new life somewhere else, somewhere where someone without any money could still make it.”

“The frontier,” Applejack said, looking off at the horizon.

“Mother wasn’t happy about it but she couldn’t really say anything. She would’ve been too ashamed to take up some poor person’s job in Canterlot.”

“I guess you were—uh—really unlucky in a few ways...” Applejack bit her lip.

“Mm,” Diamond Tiara mumbled again.

Applejack sighed. “So you don’t have any family do you? Otherwise I figured your dad would’ve just asked for help from someone.”

She shook her head. “It was just the three of us. Now it’s just me.”

“So you weren’t going anywhere in particular either then?”

“No, daddy just knew there were new towns and places starting up out here. He figured an experienced businessman like himself would have plenty of opportunities to make his money back,” Diamond Tiara brought a hand up to her forehead, the whiskey making her feel woozy.

So of course that means we’re just aimlessly wandering just like I was before. Applejack shook her head. Figures. And there aint nowhere or no one to drop her off with.

Applejack looked over and realized that Diamond Tiara had suddenly, finally, fallen asleep. She blinked before a sad smile formed on her face and she reached over to affectionately pat the young girl’s head. Diamond looked like a ghost, exhausted and with heavy bags under her eyes, her skinny body looked so frail. So fragile. She shuddered at Applejack’s touch and her face twisted into a frown. Applejack wasn’t sure if that was the alcohol or a nightmare but she felt bad for the girl all the same.

“Poor thing, you didn’t deserve to see how ugly this world is,” Applejack patted her once more before letting the girl be. She had horses to drive.

It was the middle of the night and the moon hung high in the dark sky overhead. Not a cloud was there to block it as Applejack looked up at it. A full moon, bright and big. It had taken some coaxing earlier but Applejack had gotten Silver to keep walking past the time the horse would normally be asleep. Though Applejack wasn’t sure anymore if she’d keep up her new schedule of sleeping during the day and riding at night. Not with Diamond around. That girl probably wouldn’t want to change the way she slept and Applejack would have to look out for her.

“My responsibility now, I guess. What the hell’s up with that… I don’t have to be doing any of this,” Applejack muttered to herself. “Damn good nature and all.” She frowned. “Yeah I know, Granny. You wouldn’t like it if I just left her on her own. I’ll take care of her as long as I can I guess. She’d still be better off without me though.”

Applejack really wished Diamond hadn’t drunk all the whiskey either. She could use a sip or two right now.

She fluttered her gums and cracked her neck before plopping her chin down in her hands and propping her elbows up on her legs. The reins right now she just had loosely tied around her right wrist. It took less work for her to mind the horses like this compared to actually just riding atop Winona. She didn’t have to be careful not to fall off or accidentally fall asleep—well, that would still be bad actually but at least she wouldn’t break her neck. At night like this though she didn’t have anything to look at either except for the moon itself. It was just too dark out here.

Cold too, like any of the plains it got to damn near freezing in the dead of night. But Applejack just had to force her way through it. If it got too bad she could try wrapping herself in a blanket while she sat up here. She had been sure to cover Diamond with a couple when she put the girl back into the wagon after she had passed out. The last thing that girl needed was to get sick after everything else she had gone through.

Applejack kind of wished she smoked right now just so she had something that could take the edge off. Alas she wasn’t sure if the Rich family even had any cigarettes with them. Taking a heavy breath she looked past the two horses pulling the wagon and tried to see further into the distance. Her eyes had adjusted pretty well to the night sky but all she saw was a dirt road anyways. Who knew when the next town was coming up, she should’ve asked Diamond if her father had a map or she knew anything else about where they were going. Applejack just wasn’t familiar with the area.

She heard a sniffle from behind her and a light rustling to accompany it.

Applejack’s ears perked up and she listened for it again. Another sniffle came and Applejack sighed, sitting up straighter on the bench.

“Did you wake up?”

Louder sniffling was the only response and Applejack tugged on the reins to get both Winona and Silver to stop. She stood up and hopped back into the wagon, navigating past boxes and other stuff strewn about inside it to reach the blanket-clad girl at the back. Applejack looked down to see Diamond curled up in fetal position, desperately grasping the blanket and holding it to her chest while she cried her eyes out.

“Oh boy, hitting you all at once again,” Applejack said, reaching down to rub Diamond Tiara’s head.

“Don’t touch me!” Diamond shouted the moment she felt Applejack’s hand and knocked it away. “Mom! Dad! Why?! Why?!” She covered her eyes with her hands and dug her nails into her hair. “Why is this happening… why’d they have to die?” She let out an animalistic wail of despair, her feet starting to kick back and forth as she balled one into a fist and slammed it repeatedly against the side of the wagon.

“Easy now! Don’t hurt yourself,” Applejack tried to pacify her.

Diamond Tiara just let out a teary scream again. “Who cares! Who cares! Who cares! Who cares!” She opened her eyes and sat halfway up, grabbing the edge of the back of the wagon and leaning over it, suddenly throwing up onto the ground.

Applejack winced. “Yeah that’d be the whiskey...”

Diamond Tiara’s eyes were puffy and she groaned as she emptied her stomach completely and still continued to dry-heave for a while after. Applejack, despite knowing the girl probably wouldn’t like it, rubbed her back to try and ease the pain. After Diamond was back to “normal” she still just let herself halfway hang out of the wagon like that, moaning and crying onto the ground. Applejack was thinking she might’ve tired herself out again when-

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” Diamond Tiara loudly screamed and screamed until her voice went hoarse. At the end all she could manage were some choked sobs until she threw herself back into the wagon, pulling her legs up to her body and wrapping her arms around them, she dunked her head down and sat there. Every now and then she whimpered and Applejack saw the girl’s small body shudder.

“I’m really sorry about everything that happened to you. I know that doesn’t help but-”

“Know?” Diamond Tiara growled angrily, looking up at Applejack. “What do you know about anything, you wandering hick?”

Applejack blinked at the girl with a blank expression on her face. “How old are you?”

Diamond Tiara’s brow knitted together in annoyance but she answered anyways. “I’m fourteen. Why?”

“Yeah… that’s what I guessed. You’re the same age as my sister would’ve been.”

“Would’ve?” Diamond Tiara muttered and looked into Applejack’s eyes. The sorrow in them and her silence was all the answer Diamond needed. Applejack did know. The two of them just looked between each other for a minute, Diamond’s eyes still red from fresh crying while Applejack’s were cold from a distant memory. At last Diamond turned away and looked at the floor of the wagon. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what? You got every right to be angry and lash out. I’m sorry for not just leaving you be, kid.” Applejack sighed and took a seat right beside her, putting her arm over Diamond Tiara’s shoulders and giving her a one-armed hug. “But I feel like by now you could probably use someone to lean on.”

Diamond Tiara sniffled and leaned into Applejack’s body. “Thank you. Not just for this but for… saving me… and killing the people who killed my mom and dad.”

Applejack grimaced and scratched her head with her free hand. “I… I’m sorry that I didn’t get there sooner. I want to be honest with you, specially if I’m gonna be taking care of you now, but uh… I only started galloping to you when I heard you scream. I heard some of the gunshots and everything first but I didn’t want to get involved, I… I aint as heroic as you or your dad probably thought I was.”

The young girl didn’t respond for a moment and Applejack thought she might’ve been silently angry or had accidentally fallen asleep. But soon she felt a tug on her shirt and looked down to see Diamond grasping it, though the girl was still looking at the floor.

“I don’t blame you. And… I think most people wouldn’t have come at all. You’re not the one who took my parents away...”

Applejack didn’t say anything else. The two sat there in silence until they both fell asleep.